Asha's Sacrifice
by LauraDragon
Summary: This is my version of a backstory for the Talon that brought Clay's egg in. It's my first fic, so please don't yell at me if it's bad. If you like it, review. If you don't like it, review. I want suggestions! If you don't like some part of it, tell me nicely instead of being a jerk about it, please. I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Asha

"ASHAAAAA! Stop telling the dragonets stories about your supposed prophecy! That's exactly what they are! Just STORIES! These hopeless dragonets should be training with their sibs, not mooning over some silly fantasy! Come to think of it, YOU should be training with your sibs! Come on!" Cattail yelled.

"Cattail, it's not a silly fantasy it's-"

"I know I know. Majestic-know-it-all Morrowseer delivered a majestic-know-it-all prophecy. Do you seriously believe that stuff?"

"That stuff" is going to save the world and stop the war, Cattail. You shouldn't make fun of the Dragonet prophecy." Asha said softly. Cattail snorted disbelievingly. "Just wait a moment while I say goodbye to the dragonets, and then I'll be along to practice with you and our sibs, Cattail. Bye, Dragonets!" She called, before Cattail could hurry her away.

"Bye Asha!" they called after her receding tail.

"Where have you all been? I was worried sick!" Their bigwings said, hurrying up to them.

"Listening to Asha! She's an awesome storyteller!" One of them answered.

By then, Asha was too far to hear any more, and a few seconds later she was back with her own sibs. Almost all of them yelled at her for being so late, but she was used to it, so she ignored them. After they were done scolding her, They began practicing again, and Asha quickly fell into the monotony of battle practice.

All was quiet in the sleephouse, except for the occasional snort or grumble. Asha was dead-tired. It had been a long and exhausting day for her. Because of her tardiness, her sibs had gotten the last choice of drill spots, all of which were sticky with mud. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered any of them, but mud did tend to stick to their claws, and the squelch of their movement made it hard to hear the commands of their bigwings, Silt. Not being able to hear the commands made it more likely that they might step on each others tails and talons, and it was certain that someone would end up with a sprained wing before too long. As it just so happened, that someone had been her. Also, since it was her fault that her team had had last pick, she had been used as an anger vent, both mentally and physically. she was sore and tired, and she hadn't had enough to eat, so the little dozes she managed to catch hardly sustained her. She had just managed to close her eyes when she heard Cattail scream.

* * *

Everybody in the sleephouse jolted awake, and Asha leapt up, teeth bared and ready to fight. Cattail was thrashing in her cot, intermittently moaning and roaring, but there was no attacker nearby, and suddenly Asha remembered. During the breeding night, Cattail had been sought out by a number of suitors, but she had only said yes to one. A handsome Mudwing by the name of... Aster, that was it! He had taken her into one of the sectioned off rooms, done what he came to do, and left again. Asha was certain that he had impregnated her, and she had been right. Cattail needed to be brought to a nesting box to lay her eggs, or they would die in exposure. She turned to one of her sibs, a sister named Goldenrod, and said: "Stop gawking and help me get her to a nesting box, slack-jawed fool!" She nipped her to emphasize her point, which galvanized her into action, and together they carried her to the closest one. They stood watch over Cattail while she layed her eggs, to keep the interested dragonets away, (they were to young to see such things) and to comfort her.

"Hush Catty, you'll be alright. Hush." Asha said soothingly.

"Don't...Coddle...Me...Asha" Cattail growled between gasps.

"Yup, she's fine." Asha said to Goldenrod.

"Ha...AH...ha."

_Ten minutes later..._

"Good job dear! Seven healthy eggs for y-" Goldenrod trailed off as Asha gasped.

"What?" Cattail asked. But Asha only shook her head and pointed. There, in the back of the nest, was a blood red egg.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, please review, if I get four reviews, I'll do the next chapter, if not... well then, it was worth a try._

_Lauradragon, signing off! Happy readings!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Egg

"So?" Goldenrod and Cattail asked at the same time.

"So? SO?! That's the egg!" Asha fumed, starting to pace.

"Uh, Asha, we _KNOW_ it's an egg." Goldenrod said, amused.

"Not _an _egg. _THE _egg! The one in the prophecy!"

"For wings of earth, search through the mud for an egg the color of dragon blood." Cattail quoted with a long-suffering sigh and a yawn.

"What prophecy?" Goldenrod asked. Asha stared at her, and tripped over a hidden tree branch.

"Wha-bu-how?" Asha stuttered, spitting out mud.

"How what? How do I not know about which one of your multiple half-baked ideas you are talking about? Hmmmmmm, let's see…" Goldenrod sniped.

"You two can stand there arguing all night, _OR _you can help me back to the sleeping house." Cattail interjected. Asha glared at Goldenrod, then gently helped Cattail up and, with Cattail on her right side, slowly made her way to the sleeping house. She felt some of the weight lift from her as Goldenrod came in on Cattail's other side and helped hold Cattail up. Asha made a mental note to apologize to Goldenrod, but only if Goldenrod apologized first. Then all her thoughts were occupied with making sure her sister was comfortable. Many of her sibs had already gone back to sleep, and she was comforted by their snores. Her last thought before going to sleep was: "Half-baked ideas indeed!"

* * *

"The next few days passed excruciatingly slowly for Asha. She woke up early, checked on the eggs, went to practice, hunted, went _back _to practice, hunted again, checked on the eggs, and went to bed. Her normal schedule was just like this, except without the eggs. The brightest night was only five days away when the Blood Egg began to pulse softly. It started just as Asha was getting ready to fly back to the sleeping house and go to bed. She had looked back one final time, accepting that it was most likely not the prophecy egg, and she would have to pay extra attention to all the other female dragons to see if any of them were laying eggs the next day. At first, she didn't notice anything, but then she whipped her head back and closed her wings. It was glowing! She snapped her wings open and took off, flying faster than she ever had before, flying past the outskirts of the Mudwing camp, all the way to the Talons of Peace…

"HALT!" ordered the guards. "State your name and business here!"

"Asha of the Talons of Peace, coming to report on the Mudwing egg."

"You may pass." The guards said. They bowed their heads and moved aside, unbarring their spears. Asha nodded at each of them, walked past them, and took off again, circling the camp until she found Nautilus's tent.

"NAUTILUS!" she yelled, startling a flock of crows from a nearby copse of trees.

"In a minute Asha." he said, sticking his head outside.

"I must enter! It's about the prophecy!" she whispered urgently.

"Well, you'd better come inside, then. What is it?" he inquired.

"I've found our Wings of earth. But Cattail won't part with her eggs unless you give her something in return."

"Cattail?"

"My sister."

"Ah. What would she want?"

"What can you give?"

"We can give her cows, a male cow and a female cow for breeding."

"Perfect!"

_An hour later_

Asha's wings hurt. Really freaking badly. She was carrying the female, and Nautilus the male. The cows were both mooing their terror for all of Pyrhhia to hear, and Asha was seriously considering killing them both just to shut them up. But (she sighed) then they wouldn't get the egg, and Pyrhhia would be doomed because she couldn't stand the mooing of a cow for another ten minutes. She sighed again and sped up. Blocking her ears off from Nautilus's huffing and the cows lowing.

_A day later_

They had arrived finally at the Mudwing camp yesterday, and Cattail had agreed to the trade. Asha had taken a day of rest and was now harnessing the egg to herself. She was only half listening to last minute instructions from Nautilus. "Remember not to stray too close to… anywhere. Blister could be on the lookout."

"Worried?" Asha teased

"Yes." He said shortly.

"I'll keep it safe. Don't worry!"

"Hmmmmmm…" Nautilus worried his talons.

"All set! Bye!" Asha called with a cheery wave. She flapped her wings a few times, and lifted off on her journey.

* * *

_Hope you liked the second chapter! I'll probably have the third by tomorrow! Next story is Sunny!_

_ -Lauradragon signing off!_


	3. Chapter 3

Asha had misjudged her energy, and now she was flying over a craggy area with no trees for miles, and no good place to rest. The worst part, however, was the scavenger den nearby. While scavengers meant lots of food, stirring one of them was likely to bring on a whole swarm of avengers, much like bees, with their stinging toothpicks and their humming and buzzing. And they didn't even taste good. No, she would have to keep flying until she reached a good landing spot. She sighed, (she seemed to be doing a lot of that lately) and kept on flying, ignoring the pain in her wings and the weight of the egg.

A half an hour later, she was still over the mountains, and she was dropping lower and lower. No matter how hard she beat her wings, the mountains still grew bigger until at last she had to land or risk falling from exhaustion and crushing the egg. She managed to drag herself into a cave and un-clip the harness that held her to the egg with trembling talons. She fell asleep before her head hit the ground, ignoring the unhappy rumbles from her empty stomach. "I'll hunt in the morning." she thought sleepily. In the darkness, the egg continued to pulse steadily.

She dreamed that she saw Webs and the other guardians clustered around what looked like a clump of mud. They all looked sad, so she walked over to see what they were looking at. "Hey, Webs, what are you guys loo-" Asha trailed off as she saw her talons pass through Webs' shoulder, where she had meant to tap him with her talon.

"She was a good Talon." Webs said sadly. Dune and Kestrel nodded their agreement. She looked closer at the mud, which turned out to be a dragon. Wait! This wasn't a fellow Talon... This Mudwing was... her!

Asha woke up drenched in a cold sweat. She looked over at the egg to make sure it was still there, but it wasn't! The egg was GONE! She rushed outside and very nearly obliterated the tracks that led from her cave off into the distance. They weren't dragon tracks (thank all the gods in Pyrhhia). They belonged to some strange five toed creature, much smaller than a dragon, but scavenger tracks didn't look like this. It looked like a raccoon had run off with the egg, thinking it treasure. "Oh good," she thought "exercise and a meal all in one!" She started following the tracks, and was rewarded with a sight of the thieving little beast a half mile ahead, sure enough, it was carrying the Mudwing egg. "Raccoons taste good, I hear." she said loudly, swooping down in front of its' path. It chattered some excuse about not knowing it was hers. "Give it back." she said. It chattered that yes, it would give it back if only she didn't eat it. "Okay, hand it over and I might not eat you." Asha said. The raccoon quickly complied, but Asha ate it anyway. She did not make it suffer, but she was to hungry to let this free meat just waltz back into the mountain caves. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement, and leapt up with her teeth bared, but it was just a woodchuck. She ate that too. "Delicious!" she said around the bones. With her talons, no longer trembling, she buckled on the harness and lifted off.

...

She was so pleased she could hardly stand it. Queen Scarlet of the Skywings had found a new plaything! One of her scouts had spotted one of the meddling Talons of Peace winging her way west near the border of her kingdom. What's more, it was a Mudwing. Those were often the best fighters, but Scarlet always won in the end. This time would be no different. She would play with her toy for a few hours, tormenting her and tiring her out, before BOOM, the dive down that brought it to the ground, where the fun began in earnest. "Let's go on a hunt boys." she said slyly to her cohorts. She smiled evilly and flicked her tongue as cheers began to arise from the dragons around her.

...

Asha was searching the ground below her, looking for the entrance to the cave that the other prophecy eggs were in, when a dragon dove on her from above. She whirled around to see a Skywing with its' mouth open, hissing its' "fire-song" as they liked to call it. Tucked into a ball, the fire still burned her her back scales and wings badly, even at the thickest armored spot. It was thanks to her battle training that she scored a hit with both front claws, sending the Skywing screeching back into the clouds. Just as she began to speed up her wing beats, another fresh and equally outraged Skywing dropped in front of her. She didn't even wait to see what this one would do, but dropped like a stone out of the sky. She felt a pain in her vulnerable tail tip that was as agonizing as one million barbed scavenger spears that had been set on fire and stabbed her repeatedly. The Skywing had gotten hold of her tail tip, and used her momentum against her. He grinned evilly at her, but his grin turned to a snarl as she kicked him in the chin and then, gritting her teeth as she prepared for the pain, ripped her tail out of his mouth, leaving the tip dangling by a few tendons that hadn't been severed. She screamed her fury at the pain as she dropped out of the sky. Her fall turned to frantic flapping as yet another Skywing cannoned into her from below and ripped at her exposed underbelly with his teeth and claws. Asha screamed again and loosed some of her fire right in his eye. Now she was not the only one screaming. "Scarlet!" she thought. "Scarlet toys with her enemies like this. I just know it. ALL RIGHT SCARLET! COME OUT OF YOUR HIDING PLACE AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL DRAGON INSTEAD OF HIDING BEHIND BIG BRUTES LIKE A SCAVENGER!" She heard an outraged roar behind her and whirled around, just as Scarlet dove on her and the two of them plummeted to the ground.

Asha landed badly trying to protect the egg, and she heard a wing bone snap. She knew in a moment of clarity that she would never live to fly again. "She's going to kill me. At least Scarlet doesn't know where the entrance is to the cave." As she had this thought, Scarlet launched at her with an enraged roar and ripped one of Asha's back scales out. Asha flared her spines as the queen came down for another one, and she knew they had stabbed Scarlet in the mouth as she heard Scarlet scream. She flexed her back and threw Scarlet off her, and was immediately on top of Scarlet, clawing and biting. Scarlet roared and raked all her claws along Asha's already tender underbelly, and Asha retaliated by biting her throat. Scarlet lurched aside and over Asha at the last moment, so her teeth came down on dirt, she felt one break, but didn't spit it out. Instead, she whipped her head around and spat it in Scarlet's eye. Scarlet shrieked and blundered off her, and Asha followed up on her advantage with a well paced kick with her claws out. She twisted her foot as it went in Scarlet's flank to be sure it hurt, but she was off balance from the kick and Scarlet, having gotten the tooth out, grabbed and broke at least one toe. Asha screamed, and tried to breathe fire on Scarlet, but Scarlet ducked and the flame went where her head was a second ago. As Scarlet tumbled, she reached to either side of Asha and scored Asha's wings open. Both dragons were dripping with blood now, and they broke apart to circle each other. Scarlet feinted to Asha's right, and Asha, thinking it was a committed move, went to block it. At the last moment Scarlet switched to Asha's left and opened a gash from Asha's shoulder to tail tip. At her tail, she bit the tip and breathed fire through her teeth. Now Asha was seeing through a red haze, but she still had enough mind left to rip off some of Scarlet's tail. Scarlet screamed and broke Asha's wing that hadn't been broken in the landing. Then, much to Asha's relief, Scarlet lifted off and sat down on a rock to clean off her talons. Asha tried to lurch towards her to fight her off, but Scarlet simply delivered a stinging slap with her tail that made Asha's eyes water. "I'm not dead yet queen." Asha croaked.

"You will be soon." the queen of the Skywings said dismissively. "I've no more business with were a fun toy, but you got boring. Goodbye meddling dragon. You will soon be dead."

Asha didn't have the strength to reply to that. As if from a distance, she heard wing beats and then, an indeterminable amount of time later, She heard dragon voices. "Will she be all right?" A male anxiously asked. That would be Webs.

"No." said a female, displaying the most emotion Asha had ever seen from Kestrel when she lifted a claw and put it on her shoulder.

"Take...the...egg." Asha wheezed.

"Hush Asha. You're safe now." Dune said soothingly.

"TAKE THE EGG!" She said with a considerable amount of force.

"That's our Asha. Bossy to the last." Webs chuckled sadly.

"I love you all." she said quietly with a smile.

"We love you to Asha." They said.

"Bury me by the willow." She told them.

"We will Asha. We will." Kestrel said. She felt the weight being lifted from her as the harness was taken away. She reached out a claw and felt the claws of the others touch hers. Her heartbest slowed, slower...stopped.

...

_Sorry about the slow update, and the sad ending, but Asha died in the books too. This was Asha's Sacrifice. I hoped you enjoyed it! Next up: Dune's Desert_

_ -Lauradragon, signing off._


End file.
